Lola Runs

Existential German action thriller by director Tom Tykwer as part of our monthly Philofilm, introduced and discussed by Sofie Wierda.

One situation, three scenarios. Action is essential, but to what extent does it affect the outcome? In the film Lola Runs (Tom Tykwer, 1998), existential themes such as freedom, agency, the butterfly effect, and compatibilism are revealed in an intense, thrilling, and energetic manner. Is Lola trapped in a chain of cause and effect, or does she, through her free will, manage to prevent a catastrophe?

Important aspects from the philosophical theories of Jean-Paul Sartre, father of French existentialism, will be discussed in relation to the screenplay. To what extent does a person determine their own fate? In an absurd and unpredictable world, Lola refuses to give up and shows, while running through the streets of Berlin, the existential drive to act, rather than apathetically waiting.

About Sofie Wierda: Sofie is a Philosophy lecturer at AKI ArtEZ Academy for Art & Design in Enschede. Within her curricula, themes such as beauty, (art) perception, aesthetics, existentialism, absurdism, and feminism are central, as well as the connection between artistic practice and philosophical theory.

Philofilm is a monthly series in which a film is introduced and discussed by a philosopher on the first Monday of every month. The evenings are entirely in English. Philofilm is a collaboration between Concordia and Ideefiks, the student association for Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society at the University of Twente.